Diplomat’s Tea

Posted on January 23, 2018 by vanbraman

Tonight I tried another tea that I brought home from Tee Gschwendner in Germany.

Diplotmat's Tea, Oolong Tea, Black Tea, Combo TeeThis tea is called Diplomaten Tee or Diplomat’s Tea. The name comes from the negotiated combination between Darjeeling and Oolong tea. The Darjeeling comes from the Himalayas and the Oolong from Taiwan.

Darjeeling First Flush, Formosa Superior Oolong, Tea, Combination, Diplomat's TeaIf you look closely you can see the combination of the First Flush Darjeeling and the Formosan Oolong leaves.

Tea, Tea Pot, Darjeeling, Oolong, Tee Gschwendner, AmishThe tee is now brewing in the infuser as I am patiently waiting. I have been looking forward to tasting this tea as it was a recommendation of the lady who was helping me pick out teas.

Tea Leaves, Darjeeling, oolong, Tea, Diplomat's TeaHere you can see the two types of leaves after they have opened up. The Darjeeling leaves are mostly hidden by the Oolong leaves but are still visible.

Diplomaten Tee, Diplotmat's Tea, Tee Gschwendner, Hot Tea, Darjeeling/OolongHere you see the beautiful color of the tea. The first infusion had more of the muscatel flavor of the Darjeeling tea but with undertones of the stone fruit flavor of the Formosan Oolong tea. In the second infusion the Oolong taste was stronger and in the third and fourth infusion it started to dominate while the Darjeeling was still there in the background. A very interesting taste experience.

I definitely enjoyed my tea this evening. A very nice diplomatic mix of two great teas 🙂

Steven

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Even More Old Blue Blues

Posted on January 22, 2018 by vanbraman

Old Blue just keeps having little problems. This time it was not anything major, but it was a bit aggravating as it took time to get fixed.

Car on Flatbed - Driverless Car - Car Trouble - Tow TruckFor some time now I have noticed that occasionally the road would all of a sudden get a bit brighter for me while driving at night. However, I could never catch Old Blue with one of the headlights out. They were always on when I pulled into the garage or saw them reflected in a vehicle ahead.

Old Blue, Airport Parking, Anza Parking, SFOHowever, last week I finally started seeing that the driver side headlight would sometimes turn off a little while after I started up Old Blue. It would soon pop back on and would be on when I got home or wherever I was going.

Old Blue, Pontiac G6, Car Trouble, Water Pump, Charging SystemThis is an old picture, but here you can see the headlight working properly.Fuel Filter, Mechanic, Working on Car, Car Repair I was teaching a class last week so didn’t have time to get the headlight checked, but I did check fuses and connections to make sure everything was working good.

I really do not like digging around in the engine compartment of a car. Here you can see me helping my Dad when I was young and not being too happy about it.

Old Blue - Pontiac G6 GXP - 100000 milesEverything looked like it was working better so I didn’t take my car in on Saturday. However, come Sunday the head light went out for good. It was working on Sunday morning but by the drive home in the evening it was dead.

I again checked connections, fuses and relays to no avail and it was time to take Old Blue in this morning.

I let the professionals make the determination that it was just the bulb that was bad and then make the repair. I had looked at the car manual and it involved taking off way too many covers and warnings about making sure you had two people to ensure you didn’t damage or drop them.

I sat and read a book while Old Blue got fixed up and then it was off to work.

This evening I renewed the registration for Old Blue. I am one of the first to pay the new 2018 California license fee. Not only are we paying more gas taxes but we also got our registration fees increased. Luckily since Old Blue is older the increase was not as much as people with expensive new cars are getting.

Test Drive, Chevy Trax, Courtesy Vehicle, Silver TraxHowever, I really need to start thinking about what will replace Old Blue. Perhaps sometime this year I will be in the market for something newer.

What should I get?

Steven

 

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